But Soft
by AquilaMage
Summary: What's supposed to be an ordinary Yatagarasu mission is complicated slightly for Kay and Maya by both a snag in their plans and the feelings they're both too nervous to acknowledge.


Kay leaped over the gap between the rooftops, landing with only the barest click of her boots against the tile. Crouching down, with a second's pause to make sure she hadn't been noticed, she climbed up to the highest point.

"Over here! Come on." The hissed whisper came from the other side of the roof. Maya sat perched on the corner, frantically waving her over.

She slid down next to her, the momentum carrying her a little closer than she expected. Up close, she could see the faint moonlight reflected in Maya's eyes, the flush of excitement painted across her face. Kay skittered back on her hands and hoped the color now flooding her own would be mistaken for the same, if noticed at all. "How's the situation?"

With a tilt of her head, she indicated a guard at the end of the row of buildings they faced. "They're supposed to move in a minute. After that, we should be all clear to make our escape."

It was barely a moment after that when the guard did in fact turn on their heel and walk out of sight.

"Alright." With a practiced motion, Kay swung herself off the edge of the roof, rolling to absorb the shock to her body. She flicked her scarf back over her shoulder after a slight pause for effect. That never got old. When she looked up, though, the smile faded a little.

Maya leaned tentatively over the edge with a look of concern. _Right_, she wasn't as used to this, and besides it was a bit of a drop.

She moved under the lip of the roof. "Sit down and slide off the edge. I'll catch you." Seeing Maya's hesitation, she smiled and held her arms out. "Come on, you trust me, right?"

There was a second's pause, and then she nodded. After that there was no hesitation in dropping off.

Kay stumbled back a little from the impact of catching her, but quickly rebalanced. "See? I gotcha." They adjusted, bits of laughter escaping with nerves. And then Kay made the mistake of looking up.

Maya was several inches shorter than her, so she was used to looking at her from slightly above. The way Kay'd caught her was that right now Kay was holding her up around the waist so that she towered over her, taking up the entirety of her vision. Strands of hair had come loose from Maya's bun, framing her face against the fluorescent light above.

It was the most beautiful sight Kay had ever witnessed. She could only stand there, transfixed. Everything else but the low rumble of Maya's laughter and the warmth of Maya's hands pressed against her shoulders to steady herself slipped out of Kay's awareness entirely.

She didn't know how long she stayed like that (probably only a few seconds), but it wasn't nearly enough before the moment passed and Maya slid out of her arms. She only had a second to miss the contact, and to worry about whether she was too dazed to get moving out of there, though, because then Maya grabbed her hand and then they were running out of the complex, out of the light, and into the trees beyond.

They only stopped after they'd been fully swallowed by the safety of darkness and the woods around them. Even the sounds of their heavy breathing were quickly deadened by all the plant life.

(As their hands let go, Kay had a brief moment of gratitude for her gloves. They hid her fingerprints, but also hid how sweaty her hands were currently.)

"So," Maya huffed out, "which way now?"

"You were in the lead. I thought you knew where we were going."

Her response was a sheepish smile. "Oh, whoops."

Kay couldn't be mad at Maya. The dual energies of still being mid-heist and, well, everything about being around Maya meant she almost felt like flying. Besides, it wasn't like she'd been paying her surroundings much attention in the past few minutes either. She leaned against a tree for a moment to finish catching her breath. "Well, the woods aren't that big. If we just keep going this way, we should at least hit road soon and find our way from there."

They climbed over roots and rocks and whatever else have you for a while. Maya had just turned to make some comment when they both noticed a light in the distance. She ducked down behind a bush. Over her shoulder, she said, "think we can make it out of the way?"

"No, there's too much open space here." She glared at the swaying flashlight beam. Then even more up at the canopy. "And these are terrible for climbing."

Maya tightened her grip on one of the straps of her bag. Trespassing was one thing, but if they were caught with the documents they'd stolen… "What if-" Almost immediately after she started, she shook her head.

Having still been watching the approaching guard (?), she raised her eyebrows at the sudden start-stop. "No, what? We don't exactly have much time, so _any_ ideas at all would be amazing."

"Uh…" Her voice got very small. "Kiss me."

"_What_?!" It came out as a squeak rather than a yell, but it was still powerful enough that even with Maya's fast reaction time, Kay had made a good amount of noise before the hand over her mouth muffled it. The light swung in their direction.

Maya dragged her further down, rustling the bush slightly. "I- I just thought, you know, woods right against the highway in the middle of the night, seems like the kind of place you might see couples…ugh, it sounds even dumber now." Head down, she crossed her arms.

Kay was only just beginning to accept that this was real and not a weird daydream she was having while still holding Maya in slow-motion. "It's not- I mean," she faltered, trying to find a way to express something _other_ than the first thought on her mind at the suggestion. "Do we have any other ideas?" her voice came out strained. There was far too much happening for her brain, and more importantly, her heart to be able to process.

"I…uh."

A voice called out, close. They were out of time.

Just as the footsteps came up to them, Maya practically flung herself forward. Hands scrabbling, she grabbed at the front of Kay's jacket and pulled them together as best they could when they were kneel-sitting half inside a bush on rocky ground.

It wasn't a great kiss. In fact, it could hardly be called a kiss at all, at least at first. More pressing their faces together with their mouths in the same vicinity as an afterthought. Even so, Kay thought her heart might stop or burst out of her chest or possibly both. She tilted her head until their lips actually met, ever so softly and oh-

"What are you doing here?"

They flung apart just as quickly as they'd gone together. It was only in sliding her arm away that Kay realized she'd been holding Maya's waist again. Squinting in the light now directly in her face, she knew _she_ at least didn't have to fake the mortification in her expression. She certainly wasn't about to look at Maya anytime soon if she could manage it.

"Uh, hi." At least her voice seemed to be working, if higher than usual.

A snort, and the light moved up enough so they could actually see. The guard (badge of the company logo now easily visible on their shirt) eyed the two of them over. "This is private property."

"Oh. Sorry about that!" Maya got up, dusting her pants off. "My girlfriend and I will just be going then." A nervous laugh. Sticking an arm out behind her, she waved it for Kay to take.

Even with help, Kay got to her feet with all the grace of a newborn. The sound of "girlfriend" in Maya's voice echoed around her head in a way that suggested it wasn't about to die down soon, if ever completely. She managed a shrug in the guard's direction.

They glared at the pair, but otherwise waved them off towards the road.

Fortunately the rest of the way back was completely uneventful. For Kay, her thoughts were plenty enough to deal with. They'd _kissed_! Well, technically yes and technically no, both in the less-than-ideal sense for her. It just meant she had an actual idea of what it would be like while being no closer to actually…dating. (The last word barely came out in her thoughts, something she edged away from actually saying, too powerful.)

"Uh, Kay? You can let go now."

They were making their way down the edge of the highway, Maya looking at her with a twinge of concern.

"Oh, right." Kay pulled her arm out of the loop around Maya's she'd created at some point. Fixing her gaze on the painted lines beneath their feet, she adjusted her step so she was to the side of and following behind her. Now safe from the risk of eye contact, she peeked up at Maya. She had to resist the urge to sigh.

If anything, she had to be _further _from having a chance with her now. Maya might have been the one to suggest the whole 'fake couple' thing, but _she_ had been the one to escalate it. Not on purpose, but the point was it hadn't been appropriate and now Maya was probably uncomfortable, and it was all because of her.

She looked up just enough to see the car, tucked just out of view of the few vehicles that might pass it by. Quickening her pace, Kay went over to the back door. On reflex, she held it open for Maya first.

With barely a nod, she climbed in. It was a little hard to see her face, but even the quietness of it didn't sit well in Kay's stomach.

A deep breath, and then she got in after.

Sebastian leaned over the driver's seat towards them, eyes ever so slightly red. "What happened? You said you were going to be an hour and a half but it's been nearly an hour, and I thought something happened but I didn't know if I should do anything or…"

"We're _fine_. I told you before to add extra time on when it's the two of us." She ruffled his hair.

"Oh, right." He slumped down, not even bothering to shoo Kay off. "Did you find anything useful?"

Maya slung the bag off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor between their seats. "Yup."

The flatness of the tone pushed Kay back into worry, but at least Sebastian's eager grin in response softened it. She sat back in her seat with a heavy exhale, tilting her head back.

The ride itself was more subdued than a usual return from a successful Yatagarasu mission, seeing as none of them were very talkative. Kay spent most of the time carefully staring out the window. The few times she caught sight of Maya's reflection, she tried to tell herself not to look, but couldn't tear herself away. Maya's expression seemed neutral, if troubled. She shook her head when the thought occurred to her – it could've just as easily been contemplative. Besides, it wasn't as if she couldn't be worrying about something else. They'd almost gotten _caught_, after all.

But even as they dropped Maya off at her apartment (she'd left the bag of documents for the two of them to go through and prep for sending off), Kay couldn't shake the unease that had permeated her.

Maya gave them an enthusiastic salute, and Kay had to tell herself she was just projecting the distraction in her eyes.

She waved her friend off with the best smile she could manage, waiting until she'd gotten in the door to sit back from leaning out of the window. A huff punctuated her dropping into the seat. Sebastian leaned over towards her with a frown, but she shook her head. She wasn't in the mood to talk right now. Instead, she wrapped her arms around her knees and closed her eyes, wondering what if anything she could do to fix this, or if she would just have to pretend it never happened and _hope_ that would work out to something alright in the end.

xxxxxxxx

After locking the door, Maya managed a few steps inside her apartment before she gave up and slid onto the floor. Her arm reached up on the couch and groped around for a pillow. Curling up, she pressed it to her face and screamed.

What had she been _thinking_, suggesting that?! (It was the part of her that was always thinking about kissing Kay at least a little bit, taking the opportunity presented by the more rational parts of her being occupied scrambling in panic. She knew that, but it didn't make it any better). And then calling Kay her "girlfriend"!? _Yes_, she'd been thrown off by the excitement of the mission and then Kay holding her, but that wasn't the way to do it, no matter what _it_ was. Now Kay probably thought she was being weird, or felt creeped out, given she'd never indicated she thought of her any way but platonically. _Especially_ given how reserved Kay had been once they'd gotten away.

Right, Kay's feelings. Maya sighed, willing her guilt to please be quashed. The point now was to try and find a way to make things up to her, so that they could go back to normal. Maybe not what she really wanted, but safe.

And she'd rather have that any day than risk losing her friend.


End file.
